


The Decisive Feature

by ma_jewelry



Category: Super Junior
Genre: ? - Freeform, M/M, idk - Freeform, scifi, the story that took literally the longest time to finish, which i nearly gave up in the middle cos i realised the plot doesn't make sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2019-02-04 07:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12765633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ma_jewelry/pseuds/ma_jewelry
Summary: Hyukjae is just a normal guy: working in a company in his early twenties, fantasizing about his 'perfect' future girlfriend. His life changes irreversibly when he finds a videogame that supposedly will help him find the qualities that his "ideal type" has. He was prepared for any answer, but never expected the one he got to be so frustrating, or so simultaneously satisfying.What happened to him might be called fate in others' eyes, or it could be just luck. In the end, no matter what people think, Hyukjae believes that it's better to turn a blind eye sometimes and just enjoy what you have. Live life in the present and don't worry about the past or future; face things as and when they appear before you.Life will be a whole lot easier this way, and you'll be, at last, happy.





	The Decisive Feature

 

 

Lee Hyukjae looked into the mirror and grimaced.

 

He knew that parents would always tell their children that they were the most good looking, and he had believed his own parents, until these past few years. When he joked around with friends, they would call each other ugly, but in the end they would make it clear they didn't mean it and they were all not bad in terms of looks.

 

So why couldn't he get a good girlfriend?

 

He widened his eyes, then narrowed them. His head titled left and right as his fingers ran along the edges of his hair and chin. To be entirely honest, he was quite pleased with the face his mother had given him. Although he did not have double eyelids, his dark gaze which could be interpreted as being "sexy" made up for that. And his jawbone- it was not the ordinary shape, but angular in a good way. Soft black locks of hair were swept in front of his eyes. He had tried all sorts of colours before: red, blonde, blue... but he found that an ebony black suited him the best. Or at least that what he thought himself.

 

His tastes weren't bad. He would get the highest scores out of all his friends in that online game, where you had to choose the prettier one of two girls. His favourite celebrities were all known best for their superior outer appearances. So when he was pleased with himself, why weren't others?

 

In his twenty two years of life, he had been single for every day of these years. Except for that one time when he asked a drunk girl out for a dare- they broke up the next day.

 

Was it that his standards were too high? He couldn't quite explain it, since the person he liked changed many times, but whoever he liked did not share the same feelings towards him at the same time. He _had_ noticed some girls staring at him now and then, but nobody would ever know if it was just because of a spinach leaf stuck on his teeth from lunch.

 

For twenty two years, Lee Hyukjae had never been confessed to, and it made him seriously depressed.

 

*

 

The videogame store was small in size, but it had everything he needed. Sighing to himself as he picked up a set of Starcraft for his dongsaeng, Hyukjae's eyes caught onto a box with cheesy-looking hearts in the background.

 

"The Decisive Feature"

 

Even now, he still didn't know why he noticed it, or why his legs lazily moved over so he could read the description in small writing.

 

"Tired of not being able to find _the one_? Don't worry! This virtual-real game will allow you to find out exactly what type of person your one true love is like, so look no further!"

 

He really didn't want to resort to a video game, but.... what options did he have left?

 

*

 

The sofa sunk down with a soft groan, before silence took over as Hyukjae assessed the small box in his hands that seemed heavy for its size. His eyebrows pulled together as a long, thin chord in the shape of a Y was pulled out, with small circles attached to the two top ends, and a little black box on the bottom end.

 

Being the nerd that he was, Hyukjae opened the instructions manual and began to read.

 

"Thank you for choosing TDF! Read the instructions carefully and you'll be guaranteed to pass the game!

1\. After naming both characters, your mission is to go on dates which can be any length of time, until you grow tired.

2\. The first location of your dates is randomly chosen from the basic settings: restaurant, movies, mall. For the next dates, once the game senses that you are alone and ready, you will arrive at the place you are thinking of.

3\. The aim of each round is to develop the first attraction of love towards your other. You do not have to fall in love with them, but if you two were to continue dating with no accidents, then there will be a 100% chance you will fall in love with them. 

4\. Once you succeed, you will be exited from the game and your feelings will be deleted. You will retain your memories and the data of your other in this version will be recorded in the system. The next time you play, the system will arrange different features of your other, so in the end the decisive features of your perfect lover can be found!

5\. If you reach ten dates and still do not succeed, you will be exited from the game. But don't worry! This may also be helpful towards finishing the game, as the system now knows what features you do not like, and will put that into calculation.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call SJ Limited on 06122005.

Hope you enjoy the game!"

 

 

*

 

As he opened the disc holder, Hyukjae didn’t really care if the game was going to work anymore. He was immersed in the excitement of trying out something new.

 

To his dismay, in front of him lay a single disc with MALE in large font across it, and a missing disc on the opposite face with FEMALE on the background.

 

He swore. Of course there was a reason for this being so cheap (if it wasn’t he wouldn’t have bought it). The disc holder dropped onto the sofa as Hyukjae’s hopes dropped down along with it.

 

*

 

He had been staring blankly at his desktop background for ten minutes already, not wanting to be productive but too scared to openly procrastinate. Just a few meters away, the manager scowled at him, causing him to immediately pretend to be doing work while ducking down to hide his head behind the screen. Although Hyukjae was a bit scared of getting scolded, he noticed that manager Sungmin-ssi was kind of cute when his lips were pressed into a thin line and his eyes glowered with annoyance.

 

Hyukjae sighed. Today was going to be a long day.

 

*

 

And he was right. By the time he got home he was too exhausted to even make dinner, so the alternative was a pizza delivery while he took a quick shower.

 

Which was not a good idea when the doorbell rang and he was dressed in nothing but a towel.

 

In his hurry, underwear was the least of his concerns at the moment- he just threw on the nearest pair of shorts and a shirt before opening the door and apologizing for taking so long.

 

The delivery boy had his head down as he stated the price and Hyukjae handed over a handful of coins. However, he couldn’t resist the next words after casting a glance at the disheveled figure, “Sorry for interrupting you and your girlfriend.”

 

Hyukjae swore at him silently while shutting the door in his face. He’d be lying, though, if he said that didn’t make him feel a bit lonely.

 

After absentmindedly making his way to the couch, he began to devour the pizza, only to have it stop midair as his eyes trailed to the opened disc holder.

 

Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just try that one. After all, the result would be basically the same; he’d just have to look for a _girl_ with those same features that he liked, right?

 

A message popped up after he decided to give it a try and started the game.

 

“Welcome to TDF!

Please put on the virtual-real head gear.”

 

Hyukjae might have been tired and a bit slow, but he was smart nonetheless. He pulled out the long thread-like object, and put the two discs on either side of his temple. As he was wondering if he did it correctly, a blinding light before his eyes caused him to fall into immediate unconsciousness.

 

*

 

A female voice. “Please enter your name.”

 

Where was he? “H-hyukjae.”

 

“Hello, Hyukjae. Please enter your partner’s name.”

 

“um… Donghae?” He had no idea why he had said that. It was literally the first thing that popped into his head. (Though it might have been influenced by their company trip to Donghae for their annual party.)

 

“Your game starts now.”

 

*

 

“Hyukjae? Hyukjae?”

 

Where was he? Wasn’t he at home, eating pizza?

 

“Hyukjae? Hyukjae!”

 

His eyes slowly focused, then darted around. He was in a place that seemed familiar yet distant. A… shopping mall?

 

“Hyukjae!”

 

He turned around in response to him name… and widened his eyes at the _heavenly_ creature in front of him. The man in front of him had large doe eyes that glistened like jewels, covered partly by his messy dark fringe. His skin was as smooth as marble, and thin lips that curled upwards like a cat were shouting his name.

 

“Hyukjae!”

 

A row of pearly whites dazzled his eyes and he seemed to realize something.

 

“Donghae?”

 

“Hyukjae, there’s an amusement park over there, let’s go have a look!”

 

“Wait… who are you?”

 

The bright smile vanished into confusion, and Hyukjae wanted to punch himself for making it disappear.

 

To his relief, the shorter man broke into a grin again quickly, and gave him a small but really painful slap on the arm. “What are you talking about? Yeah, I’m Donghae, your boyfriend.”

 

Now Hyukjae wanted to punch himself for different reason- to check if he was dreaming. Because if he wasn’t, then why was everything so _real_?

 

Out of nowhere, Donghae whipped out a camera.

 

“Come on Hyukjae, let’s take a photo to record our first date!”

 

The dark haired man silently agreed by pulling him closer in his arms, and leant close to the other’s brunette hair to pose a kiss for the photo.

 

 _Click_. The sound of the camera shutter went off, making it the last thing he heard.

 

And the last thing he _saw_ , was the slightly pink cheeks and rapidly blinking eyes that were too embarrassed to look at him again.

 

*

 

His living room.

 

A crack opened in his eyes, which slowly enlarged until he could read the words on the TV screen.

 

“Congratulations on passing the game on your first date! Please wait while your data is being saved, and do not turn off the power.”

 

Hyukjae was shocked. He did it? He passed it so easily? Did that mean… if they continued to date, then he would eventually fall in love with… Donghae?

 

The kiss was just a joke that he did out of impulse to tease the other, but he totally did not expect the reaction of his heart to be all warm and fuzzy. Which reminded him. Why was his heart now filled with an unexplanable emptiness?

 

*

 

There was absolutely no time at all for him to think about what had happened last night. A customer had called in to cancel their order, without giving any reason as to why. If his boss found out about this, he would surely blame him even if it weren’t his fault. 

 

It was hard to concentrate however hard he tried, because whenever the procrastinating side of him took over, Donghae’s face would settle itself comfortably in his mind, refusing to go away.

 

He wondered if he would ever see that Donghae again.

 

*

 

Despite almost dying at work, the first thing Hyukjae did after he got home was to turn on the game.

 

That feeling was addictive. It was different from when you secretly have a crush on someone. Way different. It was that feeling of liking someone while you knew that they _liked you too_ \- which made you feel valued, protected, and proud. Everything else in the world was forgotten when you were with that special person. And Hyukjae had not felt like this in years.

 

His heart started pounding as he entered the same two names. He felt like a giddy teenager. His heartbeat almost came to a stop, though, when he recognized the person in front of him.

 

It was him.

 

It was Donghae.

 

He had the same eyes, the same hair, and the same warmth radiated from his beaming smile. Hyukjae was mesmerized, to say the least...… but something was missing. What was it?

 

A flash of memory. “… you will retain your memories…”

 

Yes. That was why he could not stop thinking about the brunette, not even in his dreams.

 

“… once you succeed… your feelings will be deleted.”

 

So that was why.

 

That was why he didn’t feel that joy that he had been anticipating ever since he last played. Why his heart didn’t threaten to burst out of his chest with every movement of the other. Hyukjae stood still, frozen from disappointment, until Donghae grabbed his hand and started to stride. “We’ll have lunch at the ramen shop I went to last time. I’m sure you’ll like it.”

 

He watched the intertwined hands in front of him as he was dragged across the road, and noticed how perfectly they suited each other, albeit the contrasting skin tones. His was pale, almost white in the bright sunlight, while the other was tanned and glowing. So this is what being a couple felt like.

 

When they reached their destination and Donghae turned around, the taller man was surprised to see his eyebrows pulled slightly together, and his lips no longer curling upwards.

 

“What have you been eating? You feel so light, we have to get lots of food in you. Come on.”

 

He started to protest, but the words got cut off by an intimidating line of waitresses that greeted them once they stepped through the door. He was skinny, yes, but he wasn’t that light. Hyukjae got momentarily shocked at the fact that he just considered showing his muscles to Donghae in order to prove he wasn’t light and weak. It was their first date, for goodness sake.

 

There was a menu on the table so instinctively he reached over to pick it up and decide on what to have. His motion was abruptly stopped by a smiling Donghae, who didn’t let go of his hand even after Hyukjae turned motionless and looked confused.

 

“I’ve already ordered for us, so just sit and wait for your meal.”

 

The dark haired man felt a sliver of annoyance when he heard this. He was a picky eater, and Donghae hadn’t even asked what he liked and disliked, so how could he just go ahead and choose for _him_?

 

The brunette seemed to notice his discomfort, and his lips stretched wide before he gave the other’s hand a tiny squeeze.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll like it.”

 

Hyukjae was not convinced. One of the things he valued the most was his food, and who was Donghae to decide what he put in his mouth?

 

Without realizing it, a small pout had appeared on the older man’s face. It quickly turned into a frown when a steaming bowl of _seafood_ ramen was served to him. He didn’t eat seafood.

 

In order to not embarrass Donghae, who was watching him with expectant eyes, Hyukjae pulled out a large chopstick-full of noodles and devoured the whole thing in one go.

 

“Do you like it?” Donghae hadn’t touched his own bowl.

 

He swallowed. “Um…. the noodles are nice.”

 

The rest of the meal was finished in half-silence, as Hyukjae mumbled one sentence responses while finishing all the noodles, but left the seafood hidden in the soup. He almost came to the conclusion that the other man had not noticed this, until Donghae spoke up after they left the restaurant.

 

“I’m sorry you didn’t seem to like the noodles. We won’t come here again.”

 

For an instant he felt guilty towards the shop owners, whom he trusted to make very delicious noodles given the amount of customers. However, his face dropped when the realisation of what the other had said hit him. He had just declared that they wouldn’t come again, without even knowing the real reason why he didn’t enjoy it. What’s more important, he didn’t even _try_ to find out why. At the thought of this, the ebony hair no longer wanted to continue walking, and simply said, “I feel tired. Let’s meet again some other time.”

 

“Ok, sure.”

 

Hyukjae barely had time to turn around before the other completely disappeared from his vision. He had just vanished.

 

All of a sudden, he remembered that this was a virtual _game_. And that this time, his first date apparently did not go well.

 

His footsteps echoed on the gravel footpath; lonely. What was he doing here? What was he doing with his life? Was it that important to find somebody who was the right one? Why was it so hard?

 

Gradually, his eyes become clouded and obstructed him from noticing that he had deviated from the footpath.

 

“Hyukjae! No!”

 

A squeal of tires. A scream. Blood.

 

*

 

"No... NO! Donghae! Are you alright? I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

 

He remembered seeing a sudden bright light, before a powerful push had propelled him away from the road. To him, there was only one explanation as to why Donghae was lying on the ground, covered in blood.

 

"Don't worry, Hyukjae, I'm fine. Hey, hey, calm down, okay? I'm not hurt badly, it's just a scrape." Large warm hands tried to wipe away the streams of tears that seemed to never end. He softly caressed the cheeks of the other man with his rough fingertips, not knowing how to calm him down. Though Hyukjae’s state was justifiable, because he was genuinely scared that _he_ was the one who caused Donghae harm.

 

Now that he reflected on it, maybe that wasn't the only reason. Maybe, he was scared because it was Donghae who might have been hurt. Donghae, who literally forced him to go to the restaurant because he cared about his health. Donghae, who wrongly ordered food he didn't like only because he wanted the best for him. Donghae, who had risked his life for Hyukjae, even though they parted on a tense note on their first meeting.

 

"Thank you for saving my life." Hyukjae sniffed, finally getting down from the shock.

 

"No, thank _you_ for caring about me so much." The brunette grinned, and hugged him tightly. Hyukjae knew in that moment he would do anything for that smile.

 

One blink and he was back on the sofa, the remnants of tears still evident on his face, brought into real life from the intensity of his emotions. His chest rose up and down steadily while the game saved itself; oblivious to the emotional turmoil the human was going through. He stared up at the ceiling, as if to read what was written on it, but there was nothing.

 

Donghae. The name and its owners face kept reappearing in his otherwise blank mind.

 

Donghae.

 

**

 

"Did you hear? They might change the personnel."

 

Very unhelpfully, work was getting more and more stressful. Problems that he never encountered before appeared in handfuls, and Hyukjae had had to work overtime everyday to save the projects he was working on. He tried telling himself it was normal, that everyone in the industry would experience this, but it didn't make it any better. What was worse, there was now a rumor going around that they were going to replace some of the staff due to their possible "inefficiency and incapability". He just hoped it wouldn't be him. It was his dream to settle down in a company as famous as this one, and work to the top before he retired. He couldn't let this be taken away from him, too.

 

Just like every time, how Donghae was taken away.

 

**

 

The dates were getting worse. Every second he spent with Donghae was doomed to be uncomfortable for him, except for the last moment just before he passed the round. Then, next time, that same frustration would happen again, repeating itself. It was inevitable, but by the time Hyukjae realized this it was too late. He had gotten irreversibly addicted to that one precious moment at the end; so much that he was willing to spend the previous hours (sometimes days) in discomfort.

 

He didn't know if it was supposed to be this way, but it was taking longer and longer for him to get attracted to the other. Every feature that had changed, had changed for the worse. In fact, the very first Donghae - the first version \- took the shortest time out of all of them.

 

It almost hurt him physically now to compare that Donghae with the one who sat in front of him (version 10? 20?), looking out of the window instead of at him. His skin was blotchy, with pimples dotting any space they could find. There seemed to be too much hair on his head, and too little hair on his eyebrows. His nose was slightly flat, leading down to yellowing teeth that revealed themselves whenever he spoke. He never smiled. Nor did he show any appreciative response towards Hyukjae's words.

 

A hint of disgust crawled along the elder's skin. He couldn't believe he had already survived nine dates - if you could call those silences that - with this person. It seemed like this would be the first time he failed.

 

As he finished his cup of strawberry milk tea, the thought of ending this date rose to his mind for the nth time. He was about to speak up when another thought interrupted him.

 

From his past experiences, his boyfriend would always (and still does) seem so natural and realistic when they interacted. He would have his own thoughts and actions, not just following whatever Hyukjae wanted to do. This had led them into a couple of fights, but that was a natural thing and always passed.

 

The result of this realization caused Hyukjae to sit there, wondering intensely why the person in front of him had not left yet when he seemed so uninterested. He had never considered this before, just accepted it. Donghae had never left him- it was always the elder who wanted to end their date. And because of this, he felt the guilt that weighed down his shoulders.

 

His mouth opened to speak, but got cut off this time from a sudden wave of dizziness. The surroundings blurred out into something much more familiar, and before he realized it Hyukjae was back in his living room. His fingers ran over his hair agitatedly as he thought about how this was the first time he had failed. He picked up the remote to turn the screen off, but the words in front of him turned the dark haired man immediately into a wide-eyed statue.

 

"Congratulations on succeeding on your 10th date! Please wait while your game is being saved."

 

What?!

 

He passed? But... How was this possible? At the last minute... all he was going to do was to thank Donghae... did that cause him to unconsciously pass the round?"

 

Hyukjae's eyebrows pulled together as he landed heavily in the sofa. Was this game worth the amount of frustration and stress he received? It seemed like the purpose of his life had gone blurry; he had nothing to look forward to. First there was the danger of losing his job, then this pointless investment in a game to help him escape from loneliness. Which didn't even work.

 

The phone started ringing- his new favorite tune "growing pains" looping again and again, as if not willing to give up on the person who was ignoring it.

 

But it was no use. Hyukjae was finished with the difficulties of life.

 

*

 

From some time ago - Hyukjae had forgotten exactly when - he had started to label himself as ugly. He had started to avoid mirrors, taking pictures, and sometimes even prevented himself from hanging out with friends. With his mother and father passing away when he was only five, Hyukjae had felt like his whole world had broken down to unmendable pieces. The only thing he could do was to study harder, spend longer working, just so he could forget about those haunting nightmares filled with claustrophobic loneliness. His sister was there for him, but it wasn’t enough. There was always a gaping hole that threatened to consume him at the first chance.

 

And now, it looked like it had succeeded.

 

**

 

He was lying there as the sun came up, and still in the same position when it got replaced by the moon. Even if he lied here forever, he thought bitterly, nobody would care.

 

The phone said otherwise. Its constant ringing had transformed into a background noise, sometimes even lulling the slim man to sleep. However when another sound joined in, he was instantly alert, listening to the beep that was all too familiar to him.

 

“Hyukjae, are you there? Is something wrong? I rang your phone but no one picked up. You haven’t been to work the whole day. What did you do this time, get drunk and fly off to Paris? Call me back as soon as you can, or else I’m gonna go to your house to check on you!” she quickly hung up after abusing the phone harshly, but Hyukjae could hear the underlying worry in his sister’s voice.

 

He took a deep breath before dragging himself off from the sofa. He really didn’t want to move, but there was no other choice. Sora was a bitch when she got angry at him, and her having to drive three hours just to get to his city made her temper worse every single time.

 

He clumsily texted his sister back, assuring her that he was fine. He wasn’t. Hyukjae hovered around his house aimlessly for a few minutes before he had to admit that he was hungry. It was just like his stomach to interrupt him in the midst of pretending to be the gloomiest person on Earth. He grimaced.

 

With some instant jajangmyun in his system, he finally felt a bit closer to normal. His mind drifted back to one date with Donghae when they had eaten jajangmyun together, after a suffocatingly long kiss, the other had told him that all he wanted was for him to be happy. Hyukjae had been too caught up in all the tongue action to respond accordingly, but now it seemed to pose a serious question.

 

Donghae was not real. That much he was sure of. But the actions he saw with his own eyes; the emotions that he felt- were they fake, too? If even a fictional character could harvest feelings for him, did that somehow negate his own uselessness?

 

His eyebrows remained knotted together as he put the bowl into the sink and returned to the sofa. When his eyes focused on the space that they were unintentionally staring at while he was thinking, he realised that it was a pamphlet. The instruction pamphlet.

 

_If you have any questions, please feel free to call SJ Limited on06122005._

 

His mind was made up as he grabbed the phone with his other hand. His life was to be taken control of by himself. What was going to happen didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was the things happening now.

 

 

“Hello, this is SJ Limited, Mr. Heenim speaking. How can I help you?” a monotonous voice on the other end of the line asked.

 

“Um… you see… I bought this game- TDF- a few weeks ago, and I don’t think it’s working. I’ve played it lots of times without failing, but it seems to go on forever.”

 

“I see. Could you please give me the name you used?”

 

“Lee Hyukjae.” He was starting to get nervous. What if he got tricked?

 

“Thank you. And your email address?”

 

“jewel_loves_talgiuyu@ mail.com” It wasn’t his fault that he created the account when he was only 8, ok? Somehow he just never got a round to making a new account since everyone was used to this one.

 

The line went almost silent, but Hyukjae swore he could hear badly suppressed laughter.

 

“Ok, Lee-ssi. We will get the team to do an analysis of your results, since your record shows that you are very near the end of the game. Please wait for a few hours, and we will send you the result through email.”

 

“Beep… beep… beep.”

 

Well, that was one thing done. Now all he had to do was to go back to the company and check if he had been fired yet. His face dropped. He was _not_ looking forward to Sungmin-ssi’s death glares.

 

**

 

What struck him as weird the first moment he stepped through the door was not only the fact that everyone was seated instead of hurrying about like normal, but also the constant whispering that was present everywhere he looked. Luckily, he noticed that it wasn’t about him. Though a few colleagues that he was close to sent him questioning looks as to why he wasn’t here yesterday. Other than them, all the male workers had a stressed, even threatened look on their faces, while the females were practically beaming with excitement. Hyukjae was curious, but he first explained to the humanities worker that he was sick yesterday before settling down in his seat, not wanting to get noticed.

 

Once he was certain that he had not gotten fired from his job, he started to listen more closely at the whispers that overlapped onto one another, all talking about the same thing. Or rather, the same _person_.

 

“He is sooo hot! How can someone be as perfect as him? We are _so_ lucky to get a new manager who is this handsome!!” a girl swooned, definitely about to fall down if she wasn’t already seated.

 

“He’s not _that_ good-looking.” A male worker jutted in, sour, “Being in such a high position at a young age, who knows what he did to get here.”

 

Immediately, his face disappeared into the shadows casted by the wall of females surrounding him, towering above the poor man. “Don’t you dare talk about oppa like that! You’re just jealous!” Fearing for his life, he hastily nodded, and apologized for his rudeness towards the man who already had a fanbase the first day he came to the company.

 

Hyukjae was surprised. They got a new manager? Did that mean…. the cute (although scary) Sungmin-ssi was not here anymore? He pouted in sadness, until distracted by the message that he got a new email. There was no title, causing him to wonder what it was about, and making his mouth drop open wide when the content was visible to him.

 

"Dear Lee Hyukjae ssi,

 

Your results from TDF conclude that you will never fail because the decisive feature of your lover is that they love you.

 

Love from Heenim."

 

What kind of answer was this?! His bewilderment slowly turned into anger as he ran his fingers through his hair. Yah, this cheap game. Who were they trying to cheat? He was now basically back to square one.

 

Perhaps Hyukjae was tired from all those memories of being separated immediately after he finished the first step of falling in love. Maybe, he was so mentally and emotionally exhausted that when he received an answer that was not plainly obvious at first glance, he need time to muster up the effort and think carefully. And who could blame him, when it was not entirely his fault for accidentally choosing a game with such a depressing bug.

 

“… and this is Lee Hyukjae, who'd better have a good explanation for why he was absent at the meeting yesterday. Hyukjae-ssi, this is our new manager- “

 

The black-haired man lifted his head only to wince when he saw his ex-manager with a terrifying fake-smile, and widen his eyes at the not-too-tall but very friendly looking man standing next to him, who looked _exactly_ like his-

 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Lee Donghae.”

 

*

*

*

*

*

 

Hyukjae shifted his position slightly so he could see the other man’s face from below while being tightly clung by a pair of strong arms. To say the turn of events these few months had shocked him would be an understatement; he still couldn’t apprehend what had happened. But who cared? He was happy now.

 

“Hae, do you know about this game called The Decisive Feature?”

 

The brunette pecked the other’s cute, round nose before answering. “No. Why?”

 

“Oh…” Hyukjae hid a smile. “nothing.”

 

Even if he was 100% sure that there was no such thing as magic in the world, and did not believe in coincidences, he decided it didn’t matter.  Maybe Donghae and the game were connected in some way, maybe not. Maybe they were just a gift to him from the heavens, and his decisive feature was indeed that the other had to love him.

 

It didn’t matter.

 

All that was important now, was that he was in the arms of someone- specifically someone named Lee Donghae- who he wished to spend the rest of his life with, and even the next life, if that was possible.

 

When good things happened, Hyukjae had learnt to just accept them, not worrying too much about the hows and whys.

 

Life was a whole lot easier this way, and he was, at last, happy.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
